Trump recharged: a furious return to power, with the determination to test the limits of the presidency
WASHINGTON.- A few hours after being sworn in as president of the United States for the second time, donald trump created a scene that sealed the change of era: sitting at the desk of the Oval Room of the White House, signed a pile of decrees –with his now famous black marker– while answering questions from the journalists standing around him, witnesses of his first decisions. Trump improvised a long press conference – something his predecessor, Joe Biden, never did – between signing and signing, spilling definitions about China, Russia, Ukraine, Venezuela, Latin America, Greenland, Mexico, NATO, oil, inflation, tariffs or TikTok. Access to the Oval Office is usually very restricted; that first day, there was no filter.
“What is this?”Trump asked at one point the person who handed him the decrees.
“The departure of the World Health Organization”he responded.
“Ah, that’s a great decision.”answered the new president.
It was the kickoff to a flurry of executive actions –Trump signed 26 just on the first day, an unprecedented numberin line with Trumpist DNA – with which Trump made it clear that he is now willing to test the limits of the presidencyeven going much further than in his first government. Strengthened and without political ties after his electoral victory and the “mandate” that, according to his own reading, he received from the North American people, Trump returned to the Oval Office determined to turn the country’s direction with his marker.
Many Trump decrees had an immediate effect, radically changing the reality of millions of people. More than 1,500 Trumpists who were behind bars for the attack on Congress regained their freedom thanks to a presidential pardon or a commutation of their sentences, including far-right leaders Enrique Tarrio, of Proud Boysor Stewart Rhodes, of Oath Keepers. Both were sentenced to 22 and 18 years in prison, respectively, for “seditious conspiracy.”
On the other side of the coin were, first of all, millions of undocumented immigrants, and also foreigners with temporary residence permits obtained during the Biden government – from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Sudan or Ukraine -, who Now they must live with the fear of being deported at any time to their countries of origin.
Federal agents went on the hunt for undocumented immigrants living in the country, a target of the new administration, and The federal government launched a mass deportation planwhich includes expulsions on military planes. Thousands of refugees who already had their permits authorized to travel to the United States, and an incalculable number of migrants in Mexico waiting for an interview to request asylum, were now left in limbo, without certainty about their future. Churches, hospitals and schools in the country, untouchable during the Biden government for “la migra”, as the federal agents who go after immigrants are known, now began to prepare for possible raids.
“There is a real fear among many due to the feeling of the unknown”Jake Langlais, the superintendent of schools for the Lewiston district in Maine, said in a letter to specifically address the possibility of school raids. Langlais noted that they had reviewed with the schools the protocols in case federal agents “appear at school,” and shared “advice” for immigrants and warned about the importance of knowing their rights if they are detained.
Trump’s decision to eliminate by decree citizenship by birtha right enshrined in the Constitution opened the first judicial front – which will surely not be the last – of the new administration. A federal judge temporarily blocked the order in response to one of the lawsuits against it, filed by four states, Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon. “This is a blatantly unconstitutional order.”declared the judge. Trump has already announced that they will appeal, and the discussion will surely reach the Supreme Court, with a conservative majority.
Trump’s order that only recognizes two genders, male and female, and the one that eliminates diversity, equity and inclusion, or “DEI” programsalso have direct consequences. The Office of Personnel sent a memo to federal agencies directing them to place all employees hired through DEI programs on leave. Transgender women in prison will be sent to men’s prisons, and vice versa, and medical treatments have also been suspended.
The Armed Forces were preparing for a “veto” on transgender personnel, a measure that will affect an unknown number of military personnel. (A 2014 UCLA study estimated that around 15,500 transgender people were on active duty at the time). And the State Department eliminated the “unspecified or other gender identity” category on passport applications.
“We are not going anywhere and we will fight these harmful provisions with everything we have,” pledged the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group, anticipating another legal battle for Trump.
Along with these decrees, Trump began a political purge in the federal governmentfollowing his promise to get rid of the “deep state” and install loyalists in critical positions in order to deploy his agenda.
Before Trump became president, several career State Department diplomats resigned, reported The Washington Posta forced exit to mark a break with the Biden government. At the end of his first week back in power, Trump also fired, according to several media reports, at least 15 inspectors generalthe group of independent auditors who oversee the actions of federal agencies, with the apparent intention of installing loyal officials so they can freely pull the strings of the federal government. At least one of them, Cardell Richardson of the State Department, confirmed by the Senate in 2024, planned to show up for work on Monday anyway because he considered his firing illegal.
And about 160 National Security Council officials, career employees focused on White House foreign policy, were also sent home. “Every president has the right to have the staff and advisors he needs to implement the goals that the American people elected him to pursue.”said Brian McCormack, chief of staff of the new National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, in a call whose recording was obtained by the AP agency.
Trump published a video this weekend in which he recalls his first days back in power.
“The 100 most historic hours in American history”said on his social network Truth Social “The Golden Age of the United States begins right now!”, he closed.